Program

(based on four letters exchanged by Richard
Wagner and Johannes Brahms)Pre-recorded Digital Piano

Great Rivers for Solo Electric
Bassoon

Janet Underhill - BassoonScott Zitano
- Electronic Sound Processing

INTERMISSION

Reflections From
Behind the Plate Nos. 1-12 for Digital Piano

(based on twelve idiosyncratic statements
by the American foIk philosopher and baseball Hall of Fame catcher,
Yogi Berra)*Pre-recorded Digital Piano

Eat To Live, Live To Eat for Solo
Electric Female Voice

Eve Chosak - SopranoSlide Clements -
Electronic Sound Processing

* see program note for
complete text

Produced by Tia KimberkPickman Hall Longy School of
MusicFriday, November 7, 1997 8:00 pm

Notes

REFLECTIONS FROM BEHIND THE PLATE
12 Idiosyncratic Staternents by the American FoIk Philosopher
and Baseball Hall of Fame Catcher, Yogi Berra

Nos. 1-12
for Digital Piano

In this work, the music is derived from the
text alone (see text below). The specific texture and structure of the
music, including pitch, dynamics, and rhythm are formed from numeric values
of the text, such as the number of words in a sentence, number of
characters in a word, and numeric value of each character, including spaces
and punctuation. The text is input into the computer and converted to
musical information by a special translation program. The program then
outputs the musical information in the form of MIDI data which controls the
digital piano.

The music is generated by a set of microprograms
which contain the instructions for realizing the music. The software
combines the simplest elements of musical texture (pitch, dynamics,
duration, speed, rhythm, articulation, etc.) with basic structural elements
(continuity, repetition, variation, and chord structures which are derived
from the melodic flow of the music). Reflections From Behind the Plate
contains imbedded sequences of a slightly altered Take Me Out To the Ball
Game paying homage to baseball legend Yogi Berra. The traditional song is
input into a data base where its thematic material is selected and modified
automatically by the computer when the program is active. Some random
variability is introduced in the program to provide structural
coherence.

The following texts were used to generate each of the
12 movements:

It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.

It gets late early around here.

Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.

We keep on rnaking the wrong mistakes.

What a house. Nothing but roorns!

If the fans won’t come, you can’t stop ‘em.

You could observe a lot by watching.

Ninety percent of the game is half mental.

When you come to a fork in the road...take it!

If you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up
somewhere else.

I would like to thank all of you, without whom none of this would be
necessary.